These copies will be part of my installation at MING Studios next March 2017.

I’m leaving tomorrow on a 10 day journey back home. This excites me, I need to be reunited and reconnected to my roots. Living away from my home-home is difficult. Assimilated into the English language at a young age, I never thought being French was SO apparent. Here in the US, my cultural background seems more and more unmistakable.

I’m nervous to leave my home here in Idaho, since this séjour in Canada will stop production.

My husband, Michael, our little Sheltie, Topaz and I have traversed the US states to reach home in Gatineau, Québec for the last seven years. This year we are taking the Trans Canada Highway across to the Eastern part of the country. This will give me the opportunity to add Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and other cities in Ontario to my list of volumes for City Shields. I’m looking forward to these additions.

I contacted the City of Calgary and received the list of areas where I will find wonderful manhole cover designs.

Any of you live or travelled though these provinces? Please let me know where the fabulous manhole covers are located. I will photograph from August 10th to August 19th.

Cathryn Miller is searching for me in Saskatoon. If you find a “must have” manhole cover in your neighbourhood, please let me know.

Here is what I will miss of my home in Idaho:

MING Studios

my small comfy studio

the freedom my equipment gives me

creating books, and

Michael, as he returns to Idaho the last week of August

What I have missed of back home in Québec:

French family and friends

French language

French fries

French desert...

You noticed from my ridiculous list my roots are on my mind!

Even our profanity is pure and made up of everyday Catholic terminology. My bro is really good at it, so was my father. Most people don’t believe my explanation of how the Québecois swear. They often use sacres in their sentences, it’s part of the content. Here is a link to an article explaining a funny part of my culture. Dan Nosowitz writes on Québec's swearing vocabulary being one of the most entertaining in the entire world in his article “The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swears." The Canadian province has expletives like no other”.

You’ll love and be amused by this article. It might help understand us a little better or not!